Take off the mask
by livelaughlove0221
Summary: "Take off the mask Draco" "What?" He asks playing dumb, but she knows that he got what she meant by looking at his face, though he is trying to hide it. "You heard me." But before he can respond, she is gone. Draco breaks up with Hermione and she sees him a few weeks later at a Ministry Ball with another girl? How will she react? Rated T for one mention of alcohol


Hermione was at the annual ministry ball. She worked in the department of Magical Law Enforcement, and was the head of her department. This didn't surprise anyone of course, she was the brightest witch of her age after all. She had come with Harry and Ron, and to her disappointment they had abandoned her at the door and headed straight to the buffet table. Hermione chuckled to herself, _typical boys_ she thought. _Well they're practically men now _she corrected herself, as she scanned the room for her two best friends. She quickly spotted the familiar red hair that belonged to the one and only Ron Weasley, and found Harry one second later. Those two still were attached at the hip, just like Hogwarts.

The memories of Hogwarts came back to her and Hermione smiled to herself. A lot had changed since then, she mused. Harry had his own flat now, which he shared with Ron, and Hermione had a flat that was near the Ministry of Magic, just in case there was an emergency. Harry and Ron both had successful careers as Aurors of course, and Hermione had her job at the Ministry where she had worked with Draco Malfoy, Yes you read that right, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger had to actually _work together. _At first, Hermione and Draco had moaned and groaned, and put up quite a fight. But eventually they realized there was no way out and an odd sort of friendship started to form between the two.

Draco told Hermione everything, from his childhood with his horrible monster he called a father abusing him, to his mission in sixth year, to what he wanted to do with his life now that the war was finally over. Hermione realized that he wasn't as evil as she had painted him to be, and he was a much a victim of war as she was, but he didn't have a choice. He was just a victim of horrible circumstances, whereas she had chosen to fight in the war. After she realized this, she opened up to him as well. Telling him about the bullying she endured in primary school, something she rarely spoke about to anyone, even Harry and Ron. Then she told him about all of the things she did with Harry and Ron, from what happened in first year with the troll, to erasing her parents memories, and hunting for horcruxes in what should have been her seventh year.

Hermione and Draco really began to trust each other, and soon became close friends to Harry, Ron, and the rest of the Wizarding Worlds disgust. The brains of the Golden Trio becoming friends with a Death Eater; It was atrocious, they said. But they ignored all of the criticism and remained friends, and eventually Harry and Ron got over the initial shock, and also befriended Malfoy. Everything was going great, until…

Hermione soon realized that she was developing feelings for Draco, and it scared her to death. She wasn't in a relationship at the time, so she was free to date whoever she wanted. Her and Ron had dated for a short time after the war, but Hermione broke it off, saying that their relationship would never work, they fought too much. However, something in her gut told her that he had never really gotten

over her. Sure, he had acted completely friendly towards her after the breakup, but

something was off.

Still, she was scared. Draco still had somewhat of a reputation for being a player, and though she knew he would never hurt her, she still worried. What if she ended up not being good enough for him, not being pretty enough? What if he rejected her? Was she ready for that? Even through her doubts, her feelings still grew and eventually they became too much for her to handle. She had to tell him, take a risk for once.

Hermione confessed her feelings to Draco about a year after the breakup. She wanted to wait to respect Ron, she did love him at some point, and he was still her friend, so she wanted to give herself some time before starting another relationship. Her and Draco started dating soon after that, and everything was going amazing, she had never been happier. Until one day, Draco broke it off, saying that he was sorry but that he had found somebody else. She then asked with tears in her eyes if he had cheated on her, and he said no that she was just a friend, for now. And just like that, Hermione Granger's worst fear had come true.

Hermione realized she had tears in her eyes when Harry tapping her on the shoulder finally ripped her from her reverie. "

You okay Hermione?" he asked with obvious concern in his eyes.

"Yeah Harry I'm fine, just thinking" she replied, quickly turning her head to wipe away the tears from her eyes. Harry nodded sympathetically, immediately getting what she was thinking about. He smiled at her and pulled her onto the dance floor. "Harry what on earth are you doing?" Hermione asked him with a laugh.

"Cheering up my best friend of course" He replied easily. "Now, would you care to dance milady?" He asked with an exaggerated bow. Hermione rolled her eyes at his immature behavior but laughed and danced with him. Immediately her mood was lifted, and she started having fun, socializing with everybody and dancing with a few people, even Ron, though he stepped on her foot a few times. She also noticed that Ron was acting awkward and nervous around her, _maybe he never did get over me_ she thought. But she quickly pushed that thought to the back of her head and continued to have a good time, deciding that she couldn't think about relationships right now.

But as the muggles say, all good things must come to an end. And her mood plummeted once she saw _him_. He had come with some random blonde girl on his arm, she noticed and she tried to ignore the way her heart clenched when she saw them together. Then he saw her, and she could tell he was staring at her, though he was trying to fight it. She was wearing a ling gold dress which accentuated her figure and complimented her brown eyes and hair. When she caught him staring, he quickly changed his facial expression to a look of indifference.

Her mind flickered back to a memory. _They were talking in Hermiones flat, sharing a bottle of wine. That was when Draco said, "Hermione I really am sorry for all of those things I said and did to you when we were at Hogwarts." He said with sadness and regret in his eyes. Hermione cut him off-_

"_Oh hush, that's in the past, and you have apologized a thousand times already. You know I forgive you." She said wearily, she had already forgiven him for this, why was he bringing it up again? But he continued_

"_I didn't mean it, any of it." That surprised her, they had never gotten this far. She had just forgiven him and assumed that he had only just got over his hatred for her. But to find out that it wasn't there to begin with? That was a shock. She motioned for him to continue. "All of those rude things I said to you, every time I looked at you like I hated you, that was all a mask, a façade. I was jealous that you beat me in everything I'll admit that" Hermione smiled at this. "I believed that you were inferior because of your blood, but I never hated you. I did it to make my father proud. Couldn't say the same about how you felt towards me though." He teased and I rolled my eyes._

Then she overhears Dracos date talking. "I can't believe you actually dated that ugly mudblood." She says, and as much as she wishes they didn't the words sting a little bit. "Glad you finally came to your senses though, she says with a smile and winks at him. Hermione starts to feel a little nauseous and quickly walks away. Later when she sees that his date has gone to get yet another drink, Hermione walks over to him and says hello.

"Granger." He says coldly, giving her a stiff nod while keeping his neutral. If someone who didn't know him looked at them, they might say there was a glimmer of hatred in his eyes, now a dull grey. But Hermione knew better, they had been together for a year and a half, she could read him pretty well by now. So that would she said next very quietly, so that they could hear.

"Take off the mask Draco"

"What?" He asks playing dumb, but she knows that he got what she meant by looking at his face, though he is trying to hide it.

"You heard me." But before he can respond, she is gone.

**A/N- So that was it! My second ever oneshot on this site! Yay! My first one was for the **_**Glee**_** fandom, but I'm a much bigger Potterhead than I am a Gleek **** But you can check that out too if you want(Yay self promotion lol). Anyway I'll stop talking now, please review it makes me happy :D**

**A/N 2- Sorry I have one more thing. I was thinking of making this into a story maybe? Or maybe writing a prequel sort of thing on how they met and fell in love. 3 So let me know if I should! I just love this pairing **** Thank you for reading all of this, your amazing! :D**


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